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ALE DEBAT ASSOCIATION
THE
Y E 2012/2013 Newsletter
Yale Recaptures TOTY
After years of
successes at home and
abroad; including win-
ning two North Ameri-
can Debating Champion-
ships, APDA’s National
Championship, Worlds
Semifinals, an Oxford
title, five consecutive
years as the best team in
the United States, and Second TOTY in
2009, 2011, and 2012; Yale has finally
recaptured the American Parliamentary
Debate Association’s most coveted and
prestigious title. For the first time since
2008, a Yale team has won APDA’s Team
of the Year Award (TOTY).
Yale began the year with an explo-
sive start when the team of Andrew Con-
nery (PC ‘13) and Max Dovala (SM ‘13)
took the title for Yale from their victory at
the Smith College tournament early in the
season. Through a victory at the Harvard
tournament, TOTY passed from Connery
and Dovala to the team of Robert Colonel
(SY ‘13) and Ben Kornfeld (DC ‘13), who
went on to defend the title against teams
from Harvard, Brandeis, and Johns Hop-
kins. Throughout the rest of the year,
they held on to TOTY for all but one
week, leading Yale to a definitive victory.
The YDA’s success was reflected
not only on APDA, but in the BP and in-
ternational circuits, where Yale won its
first U.S. British Parliamentary Champi-
onship, had all of its teams reach the
elimination rounds of the World Champi-
onships, reached the finals of the HWS
Round Robin for the second year in a
row, and broke a record number of teams
at the North American Championship.
The YDA continued to prove itself
as the best all-around team in the United
States through its continued dominance
of APDA’s Club of the Year (COTY) rank-
ing, where Yale accumulated more points
than the second and third placed teams
combined. This ranking reflects an excel-
lent class of new novices, and the dedica-
tion and involvement of the YDA’s mem-
bers to every aspect of the team.
The YDA by the
Numbers:
4 YDA’s World
Ranking
5 Years in a Row
as top US Team
17 Tournaments
Won
11 Top Speaker
Awards
Another Impressive Performance at
APDA National Championships
Yale saw great success at this
year’s National Championships at the
University of Maryland. Yale again
topped the league in the number of de-
baters qualified for nationals. The num-
ber of 17 debaters falls short only to Yale’s
previous records of 21 and 22 debaters in
other seasons.
At the tournament, Robert Colo-
nel and Ben Kornfeld successfully
reached the semifinals of the tournament.
Colonel and Kornfeld narrowly defeated
the Yale team of Andrew Connery and
Max Dovala in the quarterfinals, which
they achieved in addition to quarterfinal-
ists Zach Bakal (CC ’14) and Michael Bar-
ton (BK ’14) reached the semifinal stage.
In addition, the team of Eric Brooks (DC
’14) and Sam Ward-Packard (SY ’14)
made the octofinal round.
On a controversial decision in a
highly contentious semifinal round, Colo-
nel and Kornfeld narrowly lost to a team
from Syracuse. Yale proposed the case
that it would be preferable for democratic
states to replace taxes on personal in-
come with consumption taxes. The round
between the two Yale teams saw a debate
over the efficacy of giving to charities as
opposed to political campaigns, while Ba-
kal and Barton narrowly lost their quar-
terfinal to Brandeis opposing a case call-
ing for the abolition of the
U.S. Senate’s filibuster.
Yale was one of only three
universities nationwide to
qualify any novice debat-
ers for national—an im-
pressive achievement.
The team of Adira Levine
(DC ‘16) and Edwin Zhang
(MC ‘16) were ranked as
the third novice team of
the tournament, the best
showing of any qualified
novice team.
17 Debaters
Qualified for
Nationals
2 APDA Nationals
Semi-Finalists
6 Top 20 Speakers
at Nationals
Yale Continues Tradition of Success on
APDA
Throughout the year the YDA
competes at more than 40 tournaments,
across the country and world. Domesti-
cally, the vast majority of these tourna-
ments are in the format of American Par-
liamentary debate, sanctioned by the
American Parliamentary Debate Associa-
tion. Throughout the year the YDA and its
members compete at tournaments every
weekend in an effort to qualify for Na-
tionals and earn points towards APDA’s
prestigious year end awards: Club of the
Year, Team of the Year, Speaker of the
Year (“SOTY”) and Novice of the Year
(“NOTY”).
As mentioned in the introduc-
tion, due to the depth and talent of the
YDA, the TOTY race, was a clear and
convincing victory for Yale. Robert
Colonel and Ben Kornfeld won decisive
victories at Harvard, Fordham, and
Princeton to lock up TOTY early in the
year. Some of Colonel and Kornfeld’s
toughest competition came from other
Yale teams, with Andrew Connery and
Max Dovala challenging Colonel and
Kornfeld in the finals of Smith and
Princeton on their way to a finish as 8th
TOTY, while Zach Bakal and Michael Bar-
ton came in 5th. Colonel repeated his
performance in the top-10 TOTY, as he
and Diana Li (DC ’15) worked their way to
a 9th place finish.
The YDA routed the rest of APDA
in the COTY “race.” In typical Yale fash-
ion, the YDA accumulated more points
than the combined total of the second
and third ranked teams, and qualified
more than double the number of debaters
for nationals than every school save sec-
ond-place Brandeis.
APDA also recognizes the perfor-
mance of individual speakers through its
SOTY awards. In this category too, Yale
shone. Robert Colonel finished the year
ranked 3rd, while Zach Bakal, and Ben
Kornfeld finished 6th and 10th, each fin-
ishing first or second at one or more tour-
naments.
Finally, our novices also per-
formed admirably, winning top novice
speaker awards at two tournaments
throughout the year. Four novices fin-
ished in the top 40 of the NOTY rankings.
4 Of the Country’s
Top 10 Teams
5 Of the Country’s
Top 15 Speakers
286More Points than 2nd
Place
Yale Dominates the North American
Debating Championships
The North American Champion-
ships (“NorthAms”) is a unique debate
tournament that brings together schools
from Canada and the USA in a hybrid of
Canadian and APDA styles. Yale has tra-
ditionally been very dominant at North-
Ams, most recently winning the title in
the years 2009 and 2011. Despite not
winning outright, even this year the YDA
outperformed all other schools at the
tournament, breaking twice as many
teams as the nearest closest competition.
At the 2013 Championships at Syracuse
University, the teams of Robert Colonel
and Ben Kornfeld and Michael Barton
and Zach Bakal both advanced to the
semifinals. Four other Yale teams broke
at the tournament, including the quarter-
finalists of Andrew Connery and Max
Dovala, Aaron Hakim (PC ’13) and
Sesenu Woldemariam (BK ’14), and Eric
Brooks and Sam Ward-Packard; as well
as octofinalists Allison Douglis (BK ’15)
and Nathaniel Rubin (SY ’15).
Kornfeld was second speaker at
the tournament, with other Yale debaters
in the top ten including Dovala, Barton,
Colonel, Connery, and Bakal.
6 Teams
Advancing to
Elimination
Rounds
4 Yale Semifinalists
6 Of the Top 10
Speakers
4 Of the Country’s
Top 10 Teams
112 Total Varsity Breaks
120 Total Speaker
Awards
On the YDA we debate primarily in two formats:
American Parliamentary
British Parliamentary
In American Parliamentary debate, the government (or affirmative) team pro-
poses a topic of their choosing — usually a case they have written in advance. The op-
position (or negating) team has only the 7 minutes of the first government speaker’s
speech to think of their counterargument.
For example, in the Quarterfinals of the 2013 APDA National Championships,
the government team Yale CD (Andrew Connery and Max Dovala) proposed the case
that an altruistic person would do more good donating to a high-impact charity than a
closely contested political campaign. The opposition team, Yale CK (Robert Colonel
and Ben Kornfeld) defended their side in the round by questioning the efficacy of
many charitable causes. The opposition team, Yale CK, won the debate. A video of a
similar debate between two Yale teams can be found at the following address:
http://www.parlidebate.com/recordings.php?id=333
In British Par- liamentary
debate, there are 4 teams (2
on each side), all of whom are given the topic 15 minutes before the start of the debate.
The team that wins has to not only beat the teams arguing the other side, but also pro-
vide more compelling material than the other team on their own side.
The 2013 finals of the United States Universities Debating Championship saw
Yale face off against teams from Carroll College, Loyola Marymount University, and
Stanford. The teams were faced with the motion “Whilst recognizing that life begins at
conception, this house still supports a woman’s right to abortion.” Yale KW (Ben
Kornfeld and Sam Ward-Packard were in the position of opening opposition. They
decisively beat the other three teams in the round, coming out as champions atop over
130 teams at the tournament, and capping Yale’s third consecutive year of appearing
in the finals of the tournament with a national title.
A video of this debate can be found here: http://vimeo.com/64153358
What We’ve Been Debating Yale Experiences Success in BP
The Yale Debate Association
prides itself over not only being the best
debate team in America, but one of the
best in the world. Yale’s excellent perfor-
mance at Worlds does not tell the full sto-
ry of our consistently excellent perfor-
mance in the international sphere.
Every year, the YDA travels to the
UK to participate in the Oxford and Cam-
bridge IVs. At the Oxford IV, the team of
Allison Douglis and Sam Ward-Packard
advanced to the quarterfinals, with Ward
-Packard and Douglis respectively placing
as the tournament’s sixth and thirteenth
speakers. A week later, at the Cambridge
IV, the Yale team of Andrew Connery and
Max Dovala advanced to the quarterfinals
as well.
Back home, Yale had a number of
notable achievements. The Irish Times
and Microsoft sponsored Yale teams
which reached the finals of tournaments
in Dublin and Seattle, and the Yale team
of Sam Ward-Packard and Ben Kornfeld
won one of the most prestigious tourna-
ments in North America with their victory
at the Hart House IV in Toronto. Ward-
Packard and Kornfeld continued their
string of victories when they reached the
finals of, won, and finished as the top two
speakers of the newly created Brandeis
IV—while not losing a single rank.
The most prestigious tournament
on American soil is the Hobart &
William Smith Round Robin,
hosted Geneva, NY. The tourna-
ment brings together the best de-
baters from across the world, and
debaters must qualify by winning
one or more major title tourna-
ments. Consequently the pool of
competitors included 4 Worlds
Finalists, 3 Worlds Semi-Finalists
and a European Champion
amongst others.
After the Round Robin stage, Ben
Kornfeld and Nick Cugini broke to finals
as the 4th seed, ahead of that year’s
World’s Finalists from Otago. In the final
round, following an hour long delibera-
tion process, Yale was ultimately placed
behind Lincoln’s Inn, Cornell, and Loyola
Marymount. Sam Ward-Packard was 9th
Speaker.
The final BP competition of the
year, the United States National BP
Championships (“USU”), took place at the
University of LaVerne, near Los Angeles.
6 Yale debaters went to California to com-
pete at the tournament. Two Yale teams
made it through the preliminary rounds
and to the break. The team comprising
Marissa Medansky (MC ’15) and Becca
Steinberg (BK ’15), made it to octofinals.
Ben Kornfeld and Sam Ward-Packard not
only made it to finals, but won claimed
Yale’s first BP National Championship.
In addition, Ben distinguished himself
through claiming the title of Top Speaker
from defending champion Sam, who im-
pressively finished as third speaker.
1 Rank of Yale’s
Top Team at BP
Nationals
3 Years in a Row
in USU Finals
2 Consecutive
years of Yale
Top Speakers at
the US Universi-
ties Debating
Championship
Yale Competes in 105th Annual Triangular
Debates with Harvard and Princeton
For the 105th time, YDA members
competed in the continuing tradition
known as the “Triangular Debates,” a
three-part series of debates between de-
baters at Yale, Harvard, and Princeton.
While Triangulars is no longer strictly
adjudicated, as it was for several decades
beginning in 1908, it remains an oppor-
tunity for these debating associations to
meet in a smaller setting and debate rele-
vant moral or political issues.
Harvard traveled to Yale this
year; seniors Andrew Connery, Max
Dovala, and Robert Colonel debated the
Harvard delegation on a case about the
American Civil War. Yale faced Prince-
ton away, with Aaron Hakim, Ben Korn-
feld, and Michael Barton facing Prince-
ton’s Dan Lewis, Matt Arons, and Connor
Mui on a motion about insider trading.
5th Annual Great Debate is Great Success
For the fifth year in a row, the
YDA participated in the NAACP’s “Great
Debate,” a public debate featuring two
debates on issues which have particular
relevance to the NAACP and its mission.
For the second consecutive year, the YDA
competed against Georgia’s Morehouse
College – Martin Luther King, Jr.’s alma
mater and home of one of the oldest de-
bate teams in
the nation.
Held at
New Haven’s
Schubert Thea-
ter, the event
featured a de-
bate on civil
rights and pub-
lic policy issues.
Yale was repre-
sented in the
debate by
Sesenu
Woldemariam,
Becca Steinberg,
and Anirudh
Sivaram (CC
‘15).
The YDA
would especially like to thank the NAACP
of Connecticut, its president Scott X
Esdaile, and the debaters of Morehouse
University.
105 Consecutive
Years of
Triangulars
5 Years of the
Great Debate
1000+ Audience at the
‘Great Debate’
YDA Tops North American Teams at the
World Championships
The World Universities Debating
Championships (colloquially called
“Worlds”) is the most competitive and
prestigious university debating tourna-
ment in the world. Historically, the YDA
has always done well - Yale was the first
American School to win Worlds in 1990,
and in 2006 was the first American
school to have a team in the finals of the
competition in its modern format. In ad-
dition to this, Yale debaters and alumni
regularly feature in the elimination
rounds of the championship.
This year, 8 members of the YDA
travelled to Berlin, Germany to compete
in the latest edition of the competition,
one of the largest delegations at
the tournament. After nine pre-
liminary rounds, Yale success-
fully put all three of its teams
through to the elimination
rounds. Michael Barton and
Andrew Connery broke 17th,
Zach Bakal and Sesenu
Woldemariam broke 22nd, and
Max Dovala and Ben Kornfeld
broke 28th. While all teams
advanced to the partial-double-
octofinal round, unfortunately
Bakal and Woldemariam did not advance
further. The other two teams made it
through to the octofinals, before failing to
advance to quarters. In addition, Stacey
Chen (SY ’13) broke as a judge.
Yale dominated the speak-
er tab among North Ameri-
can teams, producing not
only the tournament’s best
North American speaker,
but 3 of the next 7 as well.
2 Teams in
Worlds Octo-
Finals
100% Of Yale teams
breaking
6 Consecutive
Years Breaking
Multiple Teams
at Worlds
The Yale High School Tournament
The Osterweis Tournament
The Yale IV
1500+ Competitors at
the Yale HST
100+ Competitors at
Osterweis
44 Universities
Competing at
the Yale IV
The Yale Debate Association hosted
its 20th annual High School Invitational
last September. With competition in over a
dozen speech and debate events ranging
from humorous interpretation to policy
debate, the tournament takes place as part
of the National Forensic League (“NFL”)
for high school students. Over 1,500 high
school students from over one hundred
schools came from around the country to
compete at Yale. Since its inception, the
tournament has become one of the most
prestigious high school competitions in the
country, and is certainly the most respect-
ed student-run tournament nationwide.
All of this was only possible with
the hard work of Tournament Directors
Zach Bakal and Sesenu Woldemariam,
along with assistants Becca Steinberg, Shi-
kha Garg, Raph Leung and Paavan Gami.
Stacey Chen (SY ’13) served as the board’s
tournaments coordinator. The countless
hours of work they put in ensured that a
tournament of this scale could run
smoothly.
Yale’s annual Osterweis charity
tournament - held every April in honor of
the YDA’s former coach, Rollin G. Oster-
weis - was attended by more than 100
high school students from across the
state. The Osterweis Tournament has be-
come one of the premier event for the
Connecticut high school debate circuit,
and is now the de-facto state champion-
ship due to its large size and its falling at
the end of the debate season.
The 2013 tournament, as in previ-
ous years, not only included debaters
from Connecticut at large, but also many
from the New Haven community. Teams
coached by YDA members as a part of the
New Haven Urban Debate League partic-
ipate extensively. Thanks to the work of
tournament directors Nathaniel Rubin
and Joanna Zheng (TC ’14), and assistant
directors Ben Della Rocca (DC ’16) and
Adira Levine, members of the YDA were
able to share their knowledge and experi-
ence of debate with more than students
at no cost to them or their schools.
As the largest so far, the seventh
Yale Intervarsity tournament was an un-
precedented success, attracting more
than 300 debaters from more than 40
universities, with Cornell winning the
final in a field contested amongst some of
the most successful North American de-
baters on record.
The Yale IV is one of the most
prestigious British Parliamentary compe-
titions in the world, and the largest and
most competitive in North America. Held
in the same style as the World Champi-
onship, it provides an opportunity for
many American and Canadian schools to
practice the unfamiliar style needed to
competed with the rest of the world,
without the cost of traveling overseas.
The 2012 Intervarsity was over-
seen by tournament directors Michael
Barton and Eric Brooks. YDA coach Alex
Worsnip (GRD ‘15) served as the Chief
Adjudicator for the event, while 2012 and
2014 Worlds Semifinalists Nick Cugini
(CC ’14) and Sam Ward-Packard were
Deputy Chief Adjudicators.
The Yale Debate Association Class of 2016
Reed Berry Hometown: Brooklyn, NY Major: History High School Debate: None Interests: Surfing, film Ben Della Rocca Hometown: Hamden, CT Major: Ethics, Politics, & Economics High School Debate: Parliamentary Interests: Philosophy, mandarin Chinese, word games, sleep Charles Jin Hometown: Dallas, TX Major: Computer Science & Math High School Debate: Policy Interests: Flowers Adira Levine Hometown: Chicago, IL Major: Political Science High School Debate: Policy Interests: Government, international security policy, law
Lauren “LB” Blonde Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Major: Architecture High School Debate: Congress
Interests: Lambs, tiny fruits, Wendy’s
Patrick George Hometown: Los Banos, Philippines
Major: Ethics, Politics, & Economics High School Debate: None
Interests: Economics, current events, reading
Michelle Kim Hometown: Seoul, Korea
Major: Political Science & English High School Debate: None
Interests: English & Russian literature, Woody Allen films, folk & jazz music, animal rights, law
Hannah Nesser Hometown: St. Paul, MN
Major: Environmental Engineering High School Debate: Policy
Interests: Engineering, environmental policy, applied math
14 Novice Team
Awards
2 Top Novice
Speaker Awards
32 Total Novice
Speaker Awards
Tony Nguyen Hometown: Chandler, AZ Major: Ethics, Politics, & Economics High School Debate: Lincoln-Douglas Interests: Tech, trashy pop music, The Onion Charlie Schleifer Hometown: Andover, MA Major: Psychology High School Debate: None Interests: Neuroscience, medicine, writing, reading Kelly Wu Hometown: San Jose, CA Major: History High School Debate: Public Forum, Extemp Interests: Making pastries, binge watching Netflix, knitting Hannia Zia Hometown: Lahore, Pakistan Major: Computer Science & Psychology High School Debate: British Parliamentary Interests: Technology, feminism, political science
Zach Plyam Hometown: Queens, NY
Major: Economics High School Debate: Lincoln-Douglas
Interests: Basketball
Vincent Soriano Hometown: Manila, Philippines
Major: Economics High School Debate: British Parliamentary
Interests: Economics
Edwin Zhang Hometown: Akron, OH
Major: Ethics, Politics, & Economics High School Debate: Lincoln-Douglas
Interests: Singing, pick-up basketball, science fiction
1 Top Novice
Team Award
3 Novice
Awards at Na-
tionals
4 Of the Country’s
Top 40 Novices
The 2013 Executive Board
5 New Board
Members
35 Collective Years
of Debate
Experience
60 Collective Final
Rounds Made
President: Michael Barton. Mike is a junior in Berkeley College double -
majoring in Economics and Political Science. Before coming to Yale, Mike grew up in
Queens and attended Regis High School, where he also participated in competitive de-
bate. Before serving as President, Mike was an APDA Novice Mentor, co-director of the
2012 Yale Intervarsity, and an assistant tournament director at the 2011 High School
Tournament. Aside from debate, Mike enjoys listening to and attempting to sing all
forms of pop music, watching movies, and reading as much as he can.
Treasurer: Sam Ward-Packard. Sam is a Junior in Saybrook College hail-
ing from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He is the lone Humanities major on the YDA, and is
especially into Edmund Burke. Before being elected treasurer, he served as Deputy
Chief Adjudicator for the 2012 Yale Intervarsity. He also serves as team webmaster.
Despite having never debated before college, he won top speaker at the US Universities
Debating Championships as a Sophomore. Outside debate he runs a not-for-profit web
startup and farms chickens.
Director of Development: Sesenu Woldemariam. Sesenu is a junior in Berkeley
College from Houston, Texas. He is majoring in English and enjoys stage acting and
classical guitar. He was involved with debate throughout high school, where he com-
peted primarily in Extemporaneous Speaking. Before serving as Director of Develop-
ment, he was Co-Director of the 2012 Yale Invitational, Assistant Director of the 2011
Yale Invitational and Social Chair.
Tournament Coordinator: Diana Li. Diana is a sophom ore in Davenport
from Brooklyn, New York majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. She has been
involved in debate since high school, when she competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Before serving on the board, she was an assistant tournament director of the 2012 Yale
High School Invitational. Beyond debate, she enjoys photography, biking, and journal-
ism.
Director of Membership: Zach Bakal. Zach is a junior in Calhoun College.
He hails from the great town of South Barrington, Illinois, but because it is so small, he
usually just says he's from Chicago. Before his term as Membership Director, Zach Co-
Directed the 2012 Yale Invitational and served as the Yale Debate Association's Equal
Opportunity Facilitator (EOF). Zach is majoring in Cognitive Science, which is kind of
like psychology, but better. When not debating, studying, or applying to jobs, Zach en-
joys cooking and hiking up to East Rock.
3 Organizations
We Help Coach
5 Championship
Titles Won by
Our Coaches
50+ Collective Final
Rounds Be-
tween Our
Coaches
YDA Coaching and Outreach
David Kimel
David Kimel is the head coach of the Yale Debate Association. He is
currently pursuing a PhD in History. Before coming to Yale, he pur-
sued his undergraduate education at Harvard, where he was a mem-
ber of the APDA Team of the Year in 2005. Outside of debate, Kimel
enjoys sharing his passion for movies and Roman history with mem-
bers of the team.
Alex Worsnip
Alex Worsnip is the chief British Parliamentary coach of the
Yale Debate Association. He is currently pursuing his PhD in
Philosophy, having done his undergraduate schooling at Ox-
ford University. Alex is a former WUDC finalist and in his
spare time, follows the Baltimore Orioles.
Steven Kryger
Steven Kryger currently works at Bridgewater Associates. He grad-
uated from Yale College in 2010; during his time on the team he
was champion of the Oxford IV and reached the elimination rounds
of multiple national and international tournaments.
Alex Taubes
Alex Taubes is a 3L at Yale Law School. He graduated from Boston
University in 2011, where he served as President of the Boston Uni-
versity Debate Society. In 2011, Alex was the first debater in over a
decade to win APDA’s Team of the Year, Speaker of the Year, and Na-
tional Championship awards in the same year.
David Trinh
David Trinh currently works as an investment associate at a hedge
fund in Westport, CT. When David was on the Yale team, he set
the individual record for APDA qualifying points, as well as being
2nd TOTY in 2012, 10th TOTY in 2011, and 7th SOTY in 2012.
The Yale Debate Association has a tradi-
tion of coaching New Haven school stu-
dents in debate. Members of the team
coach at schools affiliated with the Urban
Debate League on a weekly basis, helping
both with specific events and general de-
bating skills. The team also has had a re-
lationship with Choate Rosemary Hall,
with team-members coaching Choate
pupils once a week. Recently, members
of the Yale Debate Association have be-
gun to serve by invitation as Executive
Board Members of the National High School Debate League of China.
The Social Side of the YDA
30+ Yearly Social
Gatherings
11 Countries from
which YDA
Members Come
11 Different Majors
Among the YDA
Apart from being a competitively successful
team, the YDA is a tight-knit group of friends. While
team members spend time together at tournaments,
the team hosts many social functions throughout the
year at Yale - ranging from the annual Christmas par-
ty to toasting at Mory's. More informally, members of
the YDA attend team dinners, play basketball togeth-
er, and cook a huge variety of delicious food. The team
maintains the tradition of holding ‘office hours’ every
Thursday night to discuss case ideas and catch up.
The year culminates with our Senior Banquet at a lo-
cal restaurant, at which each YDA senior gives a fare-
well speech.
Many members of the team go on to share
workplaces, graduate schools and even live together
after college. For a substantial portion of the YDA, the
team consists of our strongest and most lasting
friendships, and going to tournaments every weekend is just as much a way to spend
time with each other as it is a chance to compete at the highest level.
Away from the Podium
While the YDA is made up of fantastic debaters, we all like to believe that de-
bate skills come in handy in more than just debate. As
such, our members take part in all sorts of activities
in addition to maintaining a deep commitment to de-
bate. At Yale, we do everything from baking cupcakes
for charity to writing for the YDN (it isn’t that rare to
see an editorial page half filled by the YDA). Our
members are involved in the Yale College Student In-
vestment Group, the Yale College Democrats, Yale
College Council and Yale International Relations As-
sociation. In addition, our membership is diverse,
with members from across the world who continue to
take part in activities with a wide range of campus cultural groups.
The YDA also attracts students of a wide
variety of disciplines. Our members study Electri-
cal Engineering, Cognitive Science, Economics,
Philosophy, Developmental Biology and Political
Science. Over their summers, our members work
as investment bankers and on political campaigns,
as hedge fund traders and as newspaper reporters,
for nonprofits and social investment firms, and
more.
Yale Debate Alumni
300Members of
YADA
5 Different
Professions of
the Class of ‘13
Summer Alumni
The Yale Association for Debate Alum-
ni (YADA) holds get-togethers every summer
to offer alumni the opportunity to see old
friends, meet new members, and generally
have an enjoyable time with fellow former and
current members of the YDA. In the summer
of 2012, get-togethers were held in both New
York and Washington D.C., with more than 40 in attendance between the two events.
The Yale Association for De-
bate Alumni (YADA), founded at
the YDA centennial in 2008, was creat-
ed to help debate alumni, old and new,
stay connected with one another and
stay updated on the team‘s current ac-
tivities. If you‘re interested in joining or
would simply like more information,
visit yaledebate.org/alumni or email
nathaniel.rubin@yale.edu Additionally,
if you have any news you would like
published in next year’s newsletter let
us know at the same address.
The Class of 2013
Alyssa Bilinski is pursuing a Mar-
shall Scholarship at the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and
the London School of Economics.
Stacey Chen is an analyst at Red-
stone Strategy Group near San Francis-
co.
Robert Colonel is working for
hedge fund Bridgewater Associates in
Westport, CT
Andrew Connery is a staffer in the
office of Congressman Joe Garcia in
Washington, D.C.
Max Dovala is also w orking as an
analyst at Redstone.
Aaron Hakim is w orking at a fi-
nancial and biotech firm in Greenwich,
CT.
Ben Kornfeld is a financial analyst
at hedge fund Weiss Asset Management
in Boston.
Michael Magdzik is w orking as a
consultant at Deloitte & Company near
Washington, D.C.
105 Years of the
YDA
4 APDA National
Championships
6 APDA Team of
the Year Awards
The YDA offers its sincere gratitude to
those who have supported the team
John Chester Adams: $1000-$1999 Miles Gersh
Deborah Rhode
David Trinh
Stephanie Vardavas
Triangulars Level: $500-$999 Adam Jed
Peter Rohrbach
David Yergin
Championship Level: $250-$499 Raymond Agran
Marvin Chatinover
Adam Chilton
Jay Cox
Orin Kramer
Jeffrey Kulkarni
Sarah Marberg
Krista McGruder
Frederick Meyer
Stephen Neuwirth
Steve Umin
Jeff Bandman
Paul R. Bardack
Anthony Brett
Michael Calhoon
Perry Dane
Eric Fishman
Austen Furse III
Rodger Gabrielson
Tamar Gendler
Edwin Gonzondsky
Charles Jefferson
William Kilborne
Charles A. Krause
Meir Kryger
Aaron Lemon-Strauss
Don Leufen
Martin Levin
Victoria Lord
Kent and Valerie May
Peter Oddleifson
John and Caroline Rohrbach
Richard Ruback
Richard Seeborg
Peter H. Seed
Joe Smith
Stephen Susman
Andrew Towne
Steve Umin
Jerry Vildostegui
Brian Weinstein
Stephen Wilson
Aaron Zelinsky
Samuel Zurier
General Donor Level
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